if you are over 27, you are getting dumber

and if you're over 22, you've reached your mental peak

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7945569.stm

you'd think the 22 year-olds would be the most employable

nah because they're irritating mf'ers

god knows i'm painfully aware of this. (point a and point b)

i need to uh make the most of this, maybe i shd write that goddamn novel/sitcom/play/epic poem right damn now

you're dumber in much more profound ways when you're 'technically' at your 'mental peak'.

speed of thought is sort of important if you have exams to sit but otherwise ehhhh

uh, OTM? The software is (you better hope) better, it's the hardware that's degraded.

how many of your favourite novels or plays were written by 22 year olds? you have to balance intelligence with having one damn thing to write about.

(you are at your cranky, defensive peak at 27, i'm thinking)

well exactly d-mac, i was kinda inviting such a response thru the pointless profusion of literary tasks i'm patently not up to undertaking (sans maybe epic poetry, the 'youngest' of the literary arts imo)

surely that's twittering?

this is the perfect age to bust out awesome mathematical theory and really not much more

lol nrq

lj id love to see ur epic poem when u get done w/ it

i would read it too

i'm tryin to think what i was at my peak at aged 22. procrastination is genuinely the only thing that springs to mind, but that could be old age forgetfulness.

this was depressing news to read on the morning of an exam

i'm just doing my part

folks, Do you write poetry?

so glad I'm spending my mental peak in an office reading ilx

haa

This would confirm something I've actually been feeling lately -- some slight decline in quickness, attention span, etc. Except that it doesn't really feel biological; it feels more related to what you're actually doing with your brain as you get older.

I am 54. This is not news to me. Thank god, I was so exceedingly clever at 27 that the modest decline I have suffered in the intervening years is of no concern at all. I daresay I have lost no more than 15 or 20 points off my IQ. A mere drop in the bucket.

A nice cup of strong coffee and I'm right as rain.

I've been getting dumber and dumber since I hit puberty

i was at my dumbest during puberty.

i am totally getting dumber but i'm trying to combat it with crosswords.

on the other hand, i feel like i'm a much better writer and musician that i was at 22, just by virtue of experience.

I know I was more able to subsist on miniscule quantities of sleep at age 22 than I am now.

The software is (you better hope) better, it's the hardware that's degraded.

― Dr Morbius, Monday, March 16, 2009 9:47 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm.

umm.. take it to i love TMI, bob doles of ILX.

however, from a paragraph further down:
"Things like memory stayed intact until the age of 37, on average, while abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until the age of 60."

abilities based on accumulated knowledge

Most people's eggs are in that basket anyway, unless you specialize in, say, theoretical physics.

another day older and dummer in dett

I'd imagine that even in theoretical physics, accumulated knowledge is important.

Theoretically.

Physically.

So they're saying the brain needs a defrag every 27 years?

straw poll, age

I'm 27

and yet I feel like I have less accumulated wisdom and less ~raw mental processing power~ than I did when I was 17

(but at least I have a full head of hair eh)

thank you.

i am 47.

i would love a defrag.

Isn't this just the old story about mathematicians peaking at 28?

34

although this stupid Microsoft how-old site things I'm between 37 and 42

I feel more clearheaded and productive at 32 than I ever did in my twenties, but I'm probably dumber

Or less creative maybe I dunno